Awesome Finds returns with vintage decor

Monday

Feb 4, 2013 at 9:00 AM

By Arlene BachanovDaily Telegram Special Writer

ADRIAN — After owning two separate Awesome Finds and Designs locations in Lenawee County, and eventually closing both in favor of marketing her wares online and via booth sales, Marilyn Marr found that popular demand was leading her to open a new brick-and-mortar location.

“So many people wanted me to reopen,” she said. “There was nothing in Adrian like my store.” In fact, Awesome Finds and Designs had even earned a Best Antique Shop in Lenawee County honor.

And so, late last year, Marr opened Awesome Finds — she dropped the “and Designs,” which referred to the interior-decorating side of her business, because she realized she was much more interested in “finds” than in “designs” — at 123 W. Maumee St. in downtown Adrian.

Marr’s shop specializes in vintage home and garden decor, including tables, chairs, desks, lamps, hardware items such as pull knobs, garden items like flowerpots and watering cans, and salvaged materials including doors, posts, and iron scrollwork and grates. She paints the furniture herself.

“There’s always something you can decorate your home and garden with,” she said, and her store is laid out in such a way that shoppers can visualize how the items would look in their own homes.

Also among her wares at present are vintage furs, both faux and real; new and vintage purses; textiles; vintage jewelry and clothing; antiques; and men’s and women’s leather jackets. Perhaps her most unique items right now, she said, are old carts with iron wheels and wooden tops “that make really unique coffee tables or end tables,” she said.

More items come into the shop every day.

While most of the merchandise is vintage, some is new.

“It can be one year old or 100 years old, but it has to be quality,” said Marr.She purchases items from a variety of sources, including estate sales, auctions, dealers, and even family and friends. As she’s looking for treasures, she always keeps in mind that her customers are looking both for quality and for things they can’t buy off the shelf in a typical retail store.

“I try to find things that are unique, that people can’t find anywhere else,” she said. And she enjoys the quest: “The fun for me is in the hunt.”

The Adrian native runs her shop with the help of her daughter, Christina Cantu. “We make a great team,” Marr said. “She’s a social person, and she works well with customers.”

In the almost three months since Awesome Finds opened, Marr said she and Cantu have been quite pleased with how business has started out, with customers coming to them not only from around Lenawee County but from places like Toledo, Jackson and Ann Arbor as well. “We are very happy,” she said. “A lot of our old customers are happy to see us back, and they’re spreading the word.”

Awesome Finds’ business hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. The shop can be reached at 920-4433 or via Facebook.

This article was written based on information provided by the business.

Lenawee in Business is a feature of The Daily Telegram business page for new businesses and businesses celebrating a major anniversary. If you have a story for a Lenawee in Business, call assistant news editor Sue Van Fleet at 265-5111, ext. 259, or email sue@lenconnect.com.